Gaming machines that provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. These gaming machines generally require a player to place a wager to activate a play of the primary game. For many of these gaming machines, any award provided to a player for a wagered-on play of a primary game is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or a winning symbol combination and on an amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the amount of the wager, the higher the award). Winning symbols or winning symbol combinations that are less likely to occur typically result in higher awards being provided when they do occur.
For such known gaming machines, an amount of a wager placed on a primary game by a player may vary. For instance, a gaming machine may enable a player to wager a minimum quantity of credits, such as one credit (e.g., one cent, nickel, dime, quarter, or dollar), up to a maximum quantity of credits, such as five credits. The gaming machine may enable the player to place this wager a single time or multiple times for a single play of the primary game. For instance, a gaming machine configured to operate a slot game may have one or more paylines, and the gaming machine may enable a player to place a wager on each of the paylines for a single play of the slot game. Thus, it is known that a gaming machine, such as one configured to operate a slot game, may enable players to place wagers of substantially different amounts on each play of a primary game. For example, the amounts of the wagers may range from one credit up to 125 credits (e.g., five credits on each of twenty-five separate paylines). This is also true for other wagering games, such as video draw poker, in which players can place wagers of one or more credits on each hand, and in which multiple hands can be played simultaneously. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that different players play at substantially different wager amounts or levels and substantially different rates of play.
Bonus or secondary games are also known in gaming machines. Such gaming machines usually provide an award to a player for a play of one such bonus game in addition to any awards provided for any plays of any primary games. Bonus games usually do not require an additional wager to be placed by the player to be initiated. Bonus games are typically initiated or triggered upon an occurrence of a designated triggering symbol or designated triggering symbol combination in the primary game. For instance, a gaming machine may initiate or trigger a bonus game when a bonus symbol occurs on the payline on the third reel of a three reel slot machine. The gaming machine generally indicates when a bonus game is initiated or triggered through one or more visual and/or audio output devices, such as the reels, lights, speakers, display screens, etc. Part of the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain gaming machines is the initiation or triggering of a bonus game, even before the player knows an amount of a bonus award won via the bonus game.
Many known gaming systems employ a variety of different selection-type games as bonus games. Upon an initiation of certain of these known selection-type bonus games, the gaming system displays a plurality of selections or indicators, such as numbers; letters; or graphical representations of people, places, or things, and enables a player to pick one of the displayed selections. If the picked selection is associated with an award, the gaming system provides the player that award. In certain selection-type games, if the picked selection is associated with a bonus game terminator instead of or in addition to an award, the gaming system terminates the selection-type game. In other selection-type games, the gaming system provides the player with a limited quantity of picks (such as five picks), and enables the player to use each pick to select one of the displayed selections. In further selection-type games, each selection has a corresponding matching selection. In these selection-type games, the gaming system enables the player to select pairs of selections until the player selects a designated quantity of matching pairs of selections.
One problem with certain known selection-type games is that such games tend to have a relatively low volatility, especially if the available awards do not change from play to play. Another problem with certain known selection-type games is that such games provide a single goal for players to achieve: accumulate and use as many picks as possible.
There is a continuing need to provide new, exciting, and engaging bonus games and, in particular, new, exciting, and engaging variations of selection-type bonus games, to increase player enjoyment and excitement.